42 minutes – that’s how long I would commute from the front
door of our little upstairs apartment in Tacoma, WA to the front door of Fuller
Seminary Northwest, right by Lake Union in Seattle. 42 minutes – long enough to catch at least
one or two innings of a ballgame, or to talk on the phone, or to check-in with
one of my carpool buddies about their life and ministry. I drove the same stretch of Insterstate 5,
from Pierce to King County, at least 2 days a week for 4 years, 42 minutes each
way.
Taking the long view of history, 42 minutes isn’t that long
at all, although for some of my classes (particularly the biblical languages),
42 minutes seemed awfully long. Now I’m
grateful for a 7-minute commute from my house to church. :)
I considered seminary to be a privilege, and I still think
about my role here at First Pres. the same way.
Even with things that could be easy to gripe about – like a 42-minute
commute to go to evening classes after a long day of work and study – I considered
myself very fortunate and blessed to go to graduate school, and to now be a
pastor at a great church.
Next week, I get to go back to my old commute for a couple
of days. Tom, Kelsie, DeAnna and I are
going to a conference at a great church in Seattle, and we’ll be staying with
family and friends from my former church in Tacoma. Thankfully, we won’t have to commute up to
Seattle during rush hour, and I think those 42 minutes will be uneventful (and
rainy) each way.
The city of Seattle is an incredible place to think and
learn about ministry, and the conference we’ll be attending will gather
together some of the best Christian minds in the region about the topic of
worship and transformation. I’m grateful
for the opportunity to travel with our staff, to show them our old home, and to
be in the presence of so many great leaders and servants of Christ at this
conference. Please pray for a safe
journey for us, and thank you for supporting us as we grow as leaders in
Christ.
Blessings,
Travis Fletcher
No comments:
Post a Comment